Products enabling people to breathe their way through a fire rescue or make camping that much easier are among the creations
on display at the University of Derby.
Practical devices by final year students on the BA (Hons) and BSc (Hons) Product Design degree courses are now being exhibited at the University’s Markeaton Street site in Derby, as part of the wider ‘Big Show’.
The annual ‘Big Show’ is a free public display
of works by crafts, photography, fine art, engineering, motorsports, creative
expressive therapies, fashion, textiles, film and other students completing
their degree courses. It will be on until Friday June 13, at the University’s
Markeaton Street and Britannia Mill sites in Derby.
Peter Gray, 22, originally from Grimsby, has
created a portable stove which is so easy to use, it would be ideal for the
castaways stranded on current Channel 4 reality TV series The Island. The coffee
jar-sized ‘bio-fuel camp stove’ enables the user to take kindling (small
burnable material which initially starts a fire) with them and easily spark it
up, with the turn of a magnesium alloy rod.
Peter said: “Many of the ‘pocket rocket’ gas
stoves on the market have removed the character and excitement of cooking on a
fire in the great outdoors. My research found that people would like to build
natural fires, if it were easy and reliable to do so. My bio-fuel camp stove
aims to make that experience more accessible for everybody.
I am hoping it will attract the interest of one
of the main outdoor equipment supply chains.”
Another ingenious invention on display at the
University has more to do with fighting fires than starting them.
The ‘Oxyvive’ is a small personal respirator
which can be stored in a case on the wall of a home or office. In a building
fire the Oxyvive is removed from the case and held in the mouth. A material
called Zorflex uses active carbon molecules to filter toxins from the air and
make it breathable for up to ten minutes, and LED lights on the device help
guide rescue workers to the user’s location.
Joe Lincoln, 22 – originally from near Richmond,
North Yorkshire – is completing the final year of the BSc (Hons) Product Design
degree. He received help creating the Oxyvive from the University of Derby’s
own Forensics course, and Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Other Product Design devices on display during
The Big Show include an ultra-lightweight baby crib, a portable dog exercise
treadmill, a solar-powered water butt and energy efficient bike lights.
Terry Watson, Programme Leader for Product
Design, added: “I’m very proud of the work the students have done this year, as
always. Their final projects show the professionalism and ingenuity they have
learnt over their degree course, and which will stand them in good stead in
their future careers.”
For more information about Product Design
courses at the University of Derby see web link www.derby.ac.uk/engineering-technology/product-design
More information on The Big Show and its events
can be found on the University’s website at www.derby.ac.uk/about/organisation/faculties/adt/degree-show